The renaissance begins. “Break My Soul,” the first single to Beyoncé’s upcoming album, will drop tonight at midnight ET. The singer announced the release on social media on Monday morning, updating her bio with a simple message: “6. Break My Soul Midnight ET.”
The number is possibly a reference to the track number on act i: RENAISSANCE, her seventh solo studio record that she recently announced would drop on July 29. Fans have speculated whether the first act title of Renaissance indicates the possibility of a double album, but there’s little word yet as to what the new single or record will be about or sound like. Thus far, Beyoncé has only announced her album’s title and release date and featured a box set of goods to purchase with the album on her website.
But in a cover story from the July issue of British Vogue, the magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Enninful described hearing parts of the album at Beyoncé’s home. “Soaring vocals and fierce beats combine and in a split second I’m transported back to the clubs of my youth,” Enninful wrote, describing what he heard. “I want to get up and start throwing moves. It’s music I love to my core. Music that makes you rise, that turns your mind to cultures and subcultures, to our people past and present, music that will unite so many on the dance floor, music that touches your soul.”
The highly-anticipated record will be the singer’s first solo album in over six years, following up 2016’s critically acclaimed Lemonade. In between, she released Everything is Love, a collab record with her husband, Jay-Z; produced 2019’s The Lion King: The Gift, the soundtrack to the live-action Lion King film; and wrote and directed 2020’s Black is King, the visual album based on the soundtrack.
